Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith (b. 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and published poet who helped form a foundation for the American version of PunkRock with her ambitious 1975 album ''Music/{{Horses}}''. This distinction has to be made here, as on a tour to Britain in 1976, what might otherwise have been a [[DreamTeam fruitful collaboration]] was scuppered by [[Music/JohnLydon Johnny Rotten]] of the Music/SexPistols' sneering on-stage reference to ''[[NoTrueScotsman Horses, horses, fucking horses!]]'' It had been envisaged that the British and American versions of Punk be brought together with Patti fronting the Pistols in a few covers, but Rotten's clear disdain for what he saw as pretentious twaddle, combined with Smith's reciprocal criticism of the Pistols' lack of basic musical talent, killed that nice sentiment and entrenched the separation between the two schools of Punk.

She has many popular songs, including but not limited to "Because the Night," "Dancing Barefoot," "Gloria," "Redondo Beach," and "Free Money." In 2010, she won the National Book Award for her latest book, a memoir entitled ''Just Kids''. "Dancing Barefoot" was covered by Music/{{U2}} and appeared as the [[{{BSide}} B-Side]] to "When Love Comes to Town", gaining almost as much radio airplay as the A-side.

----!!!Tropes related to Patti Smith:* AmbiguousGender: The cover of ''Music/{{Horses}}'', photo by Creator/RobertMapplethorpe. Patti's relatively deep voice adds to this.* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]]: Her autobiography mentions how she realised she wanted to be a singer when she saw one of the final concerts of Music/TheDoors and thought she felt something passing from Jim Morrison to her. And then there's the whole infatuation with ArthurRimbaud...* [[BadassGrandpa Badass Grandma]]: She is in her seventies now and still going strong. * BandOfRelatives: In recent years, her band includes her son Jackson, and occasionally her daughter Jesse as well.* ContinuityNod: "Radio Baghdad" (2004) to ''Music/RadioEthiopia'' (1976)* TheCoverChangesTheGender: "Hey Joe". "Gloria" is notable for averting this trope.* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: "Gloria," "Land," and "Hey Joe". The introductory section of "Gloria" was written by Patti Smith, and a spoken word piece was added to "Hey Joe" about Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army.* CoverAlbum: "Twelve" is entirely full with covers.* CoverVersion: "Music/MyGeneration", "Hey Joe", "Gloria", "Land of a Thousand Dances" from "Land" (omitting the song's famous "na na na na" hook), "[[Music/TheByrds So You Want to Be (A Rock 'n' Roll Star)]]"** As of 2011, Smith has added a cover of "[[Music/{{Adele}} Rolling in the Deep]]" to her live setlist.** Also her whole CoverAlbum ''Twelve'', which includes [[Music/TheRollingStones "Gimme Shelter"]], [[Music/{{Nirvana}} "Smells Like Teen Spirit"]], [[Music/JimiHendrix "Are You Experienced?"]], [[Music/TheDoors "Soul Kitchen"]], [[Music/BobDylan "Changing of the Guards"]], [[Music/TheBeatles "Within You Without You"]], [[Music/TearsForFears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"]] (really), [[Music/{{REM}} "Everybody Hurts"]], [[Music/PaulSimon "The Boy in the Bubble"]], and so on.** Her song ''Fire of Unknown Origin'' was not only recorded by the BOC, it became the title of the LP. * DrugsAreBad: "Poppies", "Horses" (perhaps ironically, she claims "Horses" is the only song she's ever written on acid).* DrivenToSuicide: "Redondo Beach".* EpicRocking: Most of her albums have at least one song pushing 10 minutes, frequently based around her poetry. "Radio Ethiopia" from ''Music/RadioEthiopia'', for example.* GriefSong: Much of her mid-90s material, after both her husband, her brother, and one of her band members died almost at the same time.* HairyGirl: the cover of her ''Music/{{Easter}}'' LP shows Patti flaunting natural armpits. * IncomingHam: [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Arguably]] the opening lines of the opening song on her debut album.--> ''Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine/Meltin' in a pot of thieves/Wild card up my sleeve/Slick heart of stone/My sins my own/They belong to '''ME.''' '''ME.''' ''* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: "Piss Factory," "Pissing in a River," "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger"* IntercourseWithYou: "Because the Night"* IronicEcho: Patti's collaboration with the Music/BlueOysterCult, ''Revenge of Vera Gemini'' from ''Music/AgentsOfFortune'', is built around the ironic echo; Patti's lines, coming in slightly behind Albert Bouchard's, are sardonic echos that subtly twist the meaning.* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles: "Redondo Beach"* LyricalDissonance: "Redondo Beach" sounds upbeat, but the lyrics are likely about a girl who drowned herself after a quarrel with the narrator.[[note]]In fact it was about one of Smith's own sisters; she and Patti had a blazing row about something and the sister then went out by herself for several hours, during which Smith heard a news report about a girl who'd drowned herself. She was distraught that it might be her sister. When her sister came back unharmed, Smith was so relieved that the row was forgotten, and she got a song out of it.[[/note]] * LadyLooksLikeADude: She is well known for her androgynous look.* TheLancer: Lenny Kaye, who's been her guitarist since her very first gig in 1971.* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Varies quite a bit, but much of her early work is in the 4-5 range, with a few 6's ("Pumping (My Heart)" and "Rock N Roll Nigger", which arguably count due to being faster and "meatier"-sounding than most of her other rockers) with the odd tune going down a 2 or a 3 ("Ghost Dance", "Redondo Beach", "Easter", "Birdland"). Most of her later work is in the 3-4 range, with the odd tune going higher or lower.* MoneySong: "Free Money"* NeoClassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: She may ''technically'' be a PunkRock artist, but she's touched on and/or been influenced by Beat Poetry / Spoken Word, ProtoPunk, {{Reggae}}, Folk, CountryMusic, {{Funk}} and {{Soul}}-influenced Rock, borderline-[[NewWaveMusic New Wave Pop]], GarageRock, NoiseRock and PsychedelicRock, among others.* ProtestSong: There's a few, especially in her post-90s work - "Radio Baghdad", "1959", * ProtoPunk and PunkRock: ''Music/{{Horses}}'' was the first album released by a band from the New York Punk scene, and by extension one of the first PunkRock albums released, period. She was a huge influence on many later bands as well, though her sound is unconventional by Punk standards (see the above trope).* RefrainFromAssuming: The "[[AlbumTitleDrop Horses! Horses! Horses! Horses!]]" song on ''Horses'' is actually called "Land." To further confuse matters, the song "Distant Fingers" on ''Music/RadioEthiopia'' has the chorus "Land, land, land."* RousingSpeech: "People Have The Power", "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger"* [[HesBack She's Back]]: Between 1980 and 1995, she basically retired from rock music to raise her kids. Then she picked up where she left off.* ShoutOut: "Radio Ethiopia" supposedly refers to poet Arthur Rimbaud's dying wishes. "Piss Factory" mentions Music/JamesBrown. "About a Boy"'s title references Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "About a Girl".** ''Banga'' is a series of portraits of people including Emperor Constantine, Amerigo Vespucci, and [[Literature/TheHungerGames Katniss Everdeen]].* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Way over there on the idealistic side. To give you an idea, one of her more famous songs is called "People Have the Power".* SpokenWordInMusic: Frequently, especially live where songs can turn into long semi-improvised rants.* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Lenny Kaye always sings the second verse of "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger", and also usually gets to sing a solo number during concerts. * SurvivalMantra: her take on the 23rd Psalm in ''Privilege (Set Me Free)''* WackyAmericansHaveWackyNames: in the song ''Citizen Ship'', about immigrants arriving in New York, Patti's spoken, or rather rudely shouted, interlude involves turning to the other band members and Americanising the more difficult to spell Slavonic names. ----